Family
by GundamGurl17
Summary: Another XMen fic. It takes place between X2 and X3. Bobby describes his feelings about his family. Pretty emotional. There's more inside. Please R&R!


A/N: Another X-Men fic. Yay! This one takes place between X-2 and X-3. I'll warn you right now, it's kind of mushy. You'll probably get a lot more of this kind of thing from me. I can't help it, I'm an emotional person. Anyway, in this fic, Logan sort of acts like a big brother towards Bobby, and I like that. But enough from me, I want to know what you think, so R&R please! As always, I love praise, constructive critism is helpful, and I honestly don't mind if you flame! GundamGurl17, over and out!  


Family

Logan lay awake in his bed. It was past midnight, but he couldn't sleep. The past few days had been long and tiring. He thought about Scott, who was probably awake in his bed, lying there, without Jean. _Without Jean…_ Logan sighed and got up to take a walk around the school.

As Logan passed by the boys' dorms, his sharp ears picked up an almost inaudible sound that he couldn't quite identify. He walked toward the sound, listening hard. It was coming from one of the boys' rooms. Stopping outside of the room that held the source of the sound, Logan pressed his ear to the door. There the sound was again. A soft sniff: someone was crying. It had been so long since Logan had heard anyone cry; no wonder he didn't recognize the sound. He glanced at the door to see whose room it was. It was Bobby's.

Bobby was sitting on his bed, his arms hugging his knees and his head down, when he heard a soft knock on his door. Bobby looked up, startled, and quickly brushed the tears off his face. "Who is it?" he asked. "Logan," was the reply. Bobby opened the door a crack. "What's up?" he asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Logan said. Bobby looked confused. _A little too confused,_ Logan thought. _He's not a very good actor._

"What do you mean, Logan?"

"I mean, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine," Bobby said, looking at the ground.

_And not a very good liar, either, _thought Logan. "If you're fine, then why were you crying?"

"I wasn't crying!"

Logan sighed. "I heard you, Bobby. It's no use denying it." Awkward silence. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Bobby said. Logan closed the door behind him, and sat down on Bobby's bed.

"So, you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"I already told you, nothing's wrong."

"Yeah, well, your eyes say different. Come here." Bobby joined Logan on his bed, pulling his knees up under his chin. "Now, is this about Jean?"

"No," Bobby replied.

"Is it about your family?"

Bobby shook his head and looked away.

"It is about your family, isn't it?" Logan said softly. Bobby nodded, still refusing to look at Logan. Logan opened his mouth to speak, but Bobby suddenly turned to face him and cut him off.

"Don't say anything." This statement had Logan thoroughly confused. He started to speak, but again, Bobby cut him off. "I know what you're gonna say, and I don't need to hear it."

"Really?" Loan asked skeptically. "You know what I'm going to say?"

"You're gonna tell me that I should be happy that I at least had a family, and then you're gonna go on about how you don't even know your family. And then you'll probably say that I'm too old to be crying, and I'm telling you right now, I don't need it."

Logan was shocked. To hear this kind of talk coming out of the normally happy boy's mouth was unbelievable. _Although, _Logan considered, _he's had a lot of time to dwell on this, and with all the pressure he must have been under recently… between his family, Jon, Jean, and Rogue… he must have reached his breaking point. _Out loud, he said, "I would never say anything like that."

Bobby looked at him, not convinced.

"You can't help someone feel better by trying to make them feel sorry for you. It just doesn't work. Believe me, I know. I've been there, and apparently, so have you."

"Yeah, my parents always talked to me like that, and so did most of my friends - before Xavier's."

Logan nodded. The two sat in silence for a moment. Then Logan asked, "So, d'you wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"You know, sometimes it can help to talk about things." Logan saw a tear slide down the younger mutant's cheek.

"They hate me," Bobby choked out. "Ronnie… he called the cops! They really do hate me." The tears flowed steadily now. Bobby was crying again.

Logan watched the boy for a minute. Then he said, "Hey, mind if I ask you something?"

"Not really," Bobby sniffed.

"How come you didn't tell them about your power before you left for the school? I'm not blaming you," Logan added quickly. "I probably wouldn't have told my parents either, but for my own reasons. I'd just like to know what yours were."

Bobby considered the question before answering. "I guess… I guess I was just scared of what they would think. I wasn't sure… I thought they might be angry or something. I didn't know what to expect. I always imagined that they'd just accept me, and say they didn't care, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"But I never imagined it would happen like it did."

"Well, no, I wouldn't expect you to."

"Why is it that my own family hates me?" Bobby asked. Logan could tell that this question had been on his mind since Boston.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, kid. Are you prepared to hear the truth?"

"Just tell me."

"I don't think they actually _hate_ you. Well, maybe your brother does."

"Yeah, I know that," Bobby laughed sarcastically. "Ronnie hates all mutants. Ever since they've been on the news."

"Well, that's your brother's problem. But your parents, I don't think they hate you."

"Then why did they act like that? You heard what they said."

"I think they were startled when they found out that you're a mutant. I think that the truth is… that they're scared of you."

Bobby looked up at the older mutant with unbelieving eyes. "Why would they be scared of me?"

"Because, mankind has always been scared of what we don't understand. The unknown… that's probably what frightens most people. Wouldn't you agree?"

Bobby thought about this statement. "Yeah, I suppose so. But, even if they don't hate me, they still won't accept me. Where am I supposed to go after I finish school? Where can I go? I can't go home." Bobby was crying harder now.

_Oh, great,_ Logan thought. Not familiar with the concept of comforting someone, Logan put an awkward arm around Bobby's shoulders.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispered. "Do you know what a home really is?"

"Where you live?"

"Not necessarily."

Bobby looked up questioningly. "Then what is it?"

"It's where your family is. But then, what is a family?"

"That's easy. The people you're related to. Your parents, and you're brothers and sisters, and grandparents, people like that."

"True, they could be your family. But not in your case."

Bobby shook his head. "I don't get it."

"Let me explain. To me, and this is just me, remember. I may be totally wrong here, but, I think that a family is a group of people that you are especially close to. People who care about you, take care of you, and stuff like that. But most importantly, they accept you for who you are."

"What are you getting at, Logan?"

"That _we're_ your family, Bobby. And this is your home. So, in a way, you can come home after you finish school. You can stay here. I'm sure the Professor would let you. Why do you think Ororo and Scott are here? They stayed after they finished school. So you can stay with your family." Logan smiled. "You can be an 'X-Man'," he laughed.  
Bobby managed a weak laugh. Sometime during Logan's explanation, he had stopped crying. "Yeah, I suppose I could be an X-Man. I'd get a uniform, right?" Bobby smiled at Logan, whose arm was still around Bobby's shoulders.

Logan smiled back. "Yeah, I suppose you could get a uniform. After you grow a few inches."

"Thanks, Logan," Bobby said. With those words, Bobby gave Logan an affectionate hug. Logan was taken by surprise. After getting over the initial shock, he managed to put his arms around the young "Iceman" and give him a quick squeeze. Then he pulled out of the embrace and ruffled Bobby's hair.  
"Get to bed, kid. It's after midnight," he said.

"Okay," Bobby said. With a last grateful smile, he crawled into his bed, and pulled up his sheets. "Goodnight Logan."

"Goodnight, Bobby." Logan turned to leave, thought for a moment, and then turned back. "Oh, and one last thing," he said.

Bobby propped himself up on his elbows and said, "Yeah?"

"You're never too old to cry."

"Thanks," Bobby whispered, and lay down again.

Then Logan shut off Bobby's light, and closed the door. For a moment, he stood in the hall, listening as Bobby's breathing became deep and rhythmic. _He isn't really an Iceman at all, _Logan realized, _he's still just an Iceboy. I guess with all that's happened lately, we've kind of lost sight of the fact that no matter how strong they are, they're still just kids. They're just trying to fit in however they can. Heck, they're still going through puberty! _"Goodnight, Iceboy," Logan whispered, before heading back to his own room, and for the first time since Jean's death, drifting into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
